A Cow's Life: The Surprising History of Cattle, and How the Black Angus Came to Be Home on the Range - Hardcover

Montgomery, M. R.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0802714145 ISBN 13: 9780802714145

Publisher: Walker Books, 2004

Synopsis

A bovine tour de force

Millions of people, from nature lovers to collectors of cow memorabilia, are enamored of cows, yet few have any inkling of the fascinating history of, arguably, the animal most crucial to the survival and advancement of human civilization. Our close relationship with cows goes back eight thousand years, to the revolutionary advent of domestication in Mesopotamia and the Indus River valley. Since then, humans have relied on cows for milk, meat, and muscle.

M. R. Montgomery's own keen interest in cows began on his cousin's Montana cattle ranch. He traces their history from the formidable, long-extinct Auroch―the 6,000-pound ancestor of all cattle on Earth―to the ancient cattle roads and drives in England, to the selective mixing practiced by British cattlemen well before Charles Darwin or Gregor Mendel. He charts the origin of breeds and relates the path by which the Aberdeen-Angus has today become the "king of cows." With a sympathetic eye for detail, born of his own experience, he chronicles the day-to-day life of cattle and their keepers― from encouraging good mothering skills to rooting out genetic disease in a herd. After experiencing Montgomery's bovine fascination, even cow lovers will have new appreciation for the objects of their affection.

About this title

About the Author:

M. R. Montgomery is the author of several books, including Jefferson and the Gun-Men, Many Rivers to Cross, and The Way of the Trout, and a former writer for the Boston Globe. A native of Montana, he has spent countless hours visiting and pitching in with chores on his cousin's Felton Angus Ranch in Big Timber and Brandenburg, Montana. Montgomery lives in Lincoln, Massachusetts.

From Publishers Weekly:

The adjective "bovine" gains unexpected overtones of dynamism and charisma in this poky but engaging treatise. Montgomery (The Way of the Trout, etc.) traces the evolution of domesticated cattle from the huge, fierce aurochs of prehistory, notes cows' contributions to the rise of civilization ("a more complex culture was able to emerge, when mankind was nourished... by the milk and meat of the cow"), compares the cow cultures of Britain and the United States and celebrates the 19th-century emergence of bovine perfection in the form of the Aberdeen-Angus breed. Beloved of Queen Victoria, these hardy, tasty beasts apparently have personalities—Angus cows, Montgomery says, can be "egotistical," "charming" and "insouciant"—and great breeding animals are remembered by name through the generations. Montgomery travels to his cousin's Montana cattle ranch to observe the animals' daily life, delving into their bloodlines, charting the intricacies of herd behavior and offering an intimate look at their sex lives. He pauses now and then to chew the cud over cow genetics, eye the shifting fashions of cattle shows and defend the beef industry against charges of unsafe and environmentally unsound practices. Montgomery ably conveys a wealth of cattle lore with a fine eye for the details of life and landscape.
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About this edition

• Publisher: Walker Books
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0802714145
• ISBN 13: 9780802714145
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256
• Illustrator: Foster Gerald